Chapter 113: Taking a Job—Qian Yunze Calls
Su Keke’s mood improved, and even her reading efficiency went up.
She had already finished all the junior-high textbooks. But just reading wasn’t enough—junior-high material was a whole level harder than elementary school, and she needed to do a lot of exercises to really cement it.
She thought this weekend would pass quietly in study and review, but in the afternoon Su Keke received another phone call.
When she saw the caller ID, she was a little surprised.
She answered. “Qian Yunze?”
“It’s me,” came the man’s gentle voice on the other end. “You sound a bit surprised?”
“A little,” Su Keke admitted. “Because this is the first time you’ve called me. Before, you always texted.”
Qian Yunze chuckled lightly. “Before, we weren’t familiar yet. If I called you out of the blue, I worried you might feel uncomfortable. But after talking a few times, I think we’re already somewhat familiar.”
Su Keke thought seriously for a moment. “Mm… you can rank in my top ten contacts. That counts as familiar.”
But no sooner had he said that than he laughed at himself. “I’m a firm materialist, and yet I’d have a thought like that.”
Su Keke didn’t answer his question. Instead, she pointed at the small TV in the bedroom. “Isn’t there a TV in the living room? Why is there another one here?”
In her little thatched hut, there wasn’t even a single TV. This man was way too extravagant.
“Because I like watching TV while lying in bed. It’s more comfortable, so I bought a small one.”
Su Keke said, “If possible, remove this small TV—or at least cover it with a cloth before you sleep.”
Wen Hao was puzzled. “Why?”
Standing in front of the TV, Su Keke looked at her reflection in the screen. “Don’t you think this TV is like a mirror?”
A mirror facing the bed was a major feng shui taboo.
The man on the other end couldn’t help laughing softly. “Is that so? I’m honored to rank in your top ten.”
“Right, Qian Yunze—the feng shui book you recommended to me, I read it. Master Yin wrote it very well. It helped me a lot.”
“It’s good if you find it useful. But some of his viewpoints are fine to read—just don’t believe every single thing.”
“Mm, that’s true.”
“Su… Miss Su, the reason I called today is actually because I need your help.”
Su Keke couldn’t help interrupting. “Just call me by my full name, like how I call you by yours.”
“Alright—Su Keke. It’s like this: I have a friend who hasn’t been sleeping well lately. He has a lot of dreams at night—strange things—and they repeat over and over. I suspect there’s a problem with his home’s feng shui, or he touched something he shouldn’t have touched. But you know… I only understand feng shui on a surface level…”
Five minutes later, Su Keke packed her small backpack and took a taxi straight to the friend’s home that Qian Yunze mentioned.
Another job—maybe money would come in soon. Now she wouldn’t even feel stingy about taxi fare anymore.
The moment Su Keke got out of the car, she saw a man standing at the entrance of the residential compound. He wore light coffee-colored casual trousers with a pure white short-sleeved shirt. His neat short hair and handsome face made the lines of his features look even gentler.
Qian Yunze walked over with a faint smile. “You’re here.”
“Have you been waiting long?” Su Keke said apologetically. “The road was a bit jammed. If I’d known, I would’ve taken the metro.”
“No. I just got here too.”
Qian Yunze’s friend worked at an archaeological research institute. His name was Wen Hao. When Su Keke met him, he had heavy panda-eye dark circles, messy fluffy hair, and looked exhausted. Though he was in his twenties, he looked like he was already in his thirties.
“No way, Yunze. This is the feng shui master you found? Kid—have you even graduated middle school?”
Qian Yunze said, “The ancestors said: you can’t judge a person by appearance, and you can’t measure the sea with a ladle. Since when did you start judging people by their looks?”
“But she really looks like… forget it. I trust you—your judgment won’t be bad. Come in. Knowing you two were coming, I cleaned up my pigsty this morning.”
Su Keke burst into a muffled laugh.
She could tell—this person didn’t like cleaning.
“Come on, little sis… little master. Take a look—does the feng shui in my place have problems?”
Su Keke swept her gaze around. “The living room and kitchen have quite a lot of clutter. That affects the flow of qi. If you stay in this kind of space for long, your mood won’t be good either.”
Wen Hao didn’t care. “That’s it? I know that myself.”
Su Keke looked up at the ceiling above the entryway and frowned. “Why did you put a mirror here?”
It wasn’t exactly a mirror—more like a smooth alloy panel, a bit like an old bronze mirror. When you looked up, you could see your own reflection.
Wen Hao also looked up. “Oh, this? The contractor said it would look nice and add more depth to the space. Though I think he just wanted me to spend more on renovations.”
Su Keke puffed her cheeks in anger. “Nonsense! Even if you want to make a space feel bigger, you don’t do it like this.”
Wen Hao was startled by the sudden rise in her voice.
Su Keke said with a stern face, “You can’t put mirrors on the living-room ceiling or above the entryway. A mirror above the entryway—when you step in and look up, you see your own reflection, which gives a feeling of head down, feet up, the world turned upside down. A mirror on the ceiling—people reflected in it lose qi and lose wealth. It’s bad for health and overall fortune. Both are major feng shui taboos.”
Wen Hao looked at the little girl’s serious face, then glanced at Qian Yunze, who stood to the side smiling without speaking, and muttered, “You really found me a little shaman.”
“I think you’d better take her seriously,” Qian Yunze said. “Either way, you don’t lose anything.”
Wen Hao nodded. “Alright. I’ll have someone remove that thing above my head later.”
“If you think it’s troublesome, you can just paste paper over the mirror for now,” Su Keke said.
“Okay, okay. But those are minor issues. Little master—can we deal with the main problem first?”
Su Keke looked at him. “I need to see your bedroom.”
“Look all you want—wait! I think I haven’t folded my quilt yet. Give me a second. I’ll be right back!” Wen Hao hurried into the bedroom to tidy up.
Qian Yunze smiled faintly and said to Su Keke, “He’s a bit sloppy, but he’s a good person.”
Su Keke muttered, “How can someone as clean as you be friends with someone this sloppy and still let him keep being sloppy?”
“Little master, I heard that!” Wen Hao shouted from the bedroom. Not long after, he came out.
As for the quilt—he just wrapped it up roughly. Fast and easy.
Then he lifted an arm and draped it over Qian Yunze’s shoulder, acting like a buddy, grinning. “What’s wrong with a sloppy person being friends with a clean person? Look—does he despise me?”
Qian Yunze shook his head slightly. “Stop running your mouth. Hurry up and tell her what’s been going on.”
Su Keke looked around Wen Hao’s bedroom while listening to him sigh. “I don’t even know when it started, but at night I can’t sleep well. I keep hearing screams in my ears. The moment I open my eyes, the sound is gone. But as soon as I fall asleep, the sound comes back. Sometimes I even have strange dreams—blurry scenes, lots of blood, so much blood…”
“Little master,” Wen Hao asked, “do you think I’ve run into something unclean?”
